Monthly Archives: October 2013

I have been thinking quite a lot recently about the type of historic events we choose to explore (and in some cases commemorate). This was spurred by the recent laying of a wreath by the Irish President Michael D. Higgins...

In 1925 newspapers on both sides of the Atlantic carried the story of the ‘Old Man of the Sea’. about a Corkman travelling back from the United States to live with his sister in Newport, Wales. He was thought to...

The Irish community in New York has long links to the Fire Service. Large numbers of immigrant Irishmen served in the city’s Engine, Hose and Hook & Ladder companies during the 1850s and 1860s. In an era where insurance firms...

Ireland as a country appears outwardly very proud of her diaspora. This is enshrined in our constitution- Article 2 tells us that ‘the Irish nation cherishes its special affinity with people of Irish ancestry living abroad who share its cultural...

At least 150,000 Irish-born men fought for the Union during the American Civil War. However this figure does not include those first-generation Irish, born in Canada and the United States, who considered themselves just as Irish as anyone born on...

Previous posts have looked at the ‘Information Wanted’ ads placed in Irish-American newspapers during the 1860s, where family members sought to discover the fate of soldiers who went missing during the war (see here and here). The conflict split families...

I had the great privilege at the weekend of being the after-dinner speaker for the Tipperary Remembrance Trust event. The Trust is dedicated to the memory of all Irish men and women who have died worldwide in the cause...